Forty years after its debut, the whole designated hitter thing is no less odd than it was when Ron Blomberg drew a bases-loaded walk off Luis Tiant in the first plate appearance by a DH on April 6, 1973.

Odd because David Ortiz, the last great designated hitter, will play first base when the World Series shifts to St. Louis after the first two games in Boston.

Odd because Allen Craig, who missed St. Louis' first two rounds of the playoffs with a foot injury, will DH for the Cardinals despite being a DH just twice in his career.

To DH or not to DH has been debated for as long as owners thought about keeping pitchers out of batters' boxes, and every October the debate takes on a different angle because nobody quite knows what to do in the World Series.

The current World Series setup - DH in American League parks, not National League parks - began in 1986. From 1976 to 1985, it was used in all World Series games in even-numbered years - talk about odd.

Hideki Matsui had the most relevant World Series for a DH, winning MVP honors in 2009 despite starting three of six games for the Yankees. The most irrelevant? A case can be made for the Giants' three DHs in 2002, if only because all batted ninth.

It's the time of year when NL managers must invent DHs from their bench players and AL managers must make sure their pitchers reintroduce themselves to the bat rack. It's not the norm from the regular season, but everyone must live with it.

Uniformity is better, but neither league is ready to budge, especially the AL, if only because the players' union wouldn't let go of the DH. The pressure is beginning to mount for NL teams to consider a change now that season-long interleague play is here, but nothing's in the works.

For now, Ortiz is taking grounders and Craig is taking hacks. We'll have two quality DHs for Games 1, 2 and, if necessary, 6 and 7, but iffy propositions in other games with Ortiz fielding (six starts at first during the season) and Boston pitchers hitting (1-for-26).

The World Series is baseball's biggest stage, yet two sets of rules apply. It's odd, but that's nothing new.